7 Not So Deadly
by KFD
Summary: One day, seven Tamers, seven sins.
1. Lust

**Lust**

**12:00 AM.**

Traffic lights shone through the window as Henry Wong turned in his sleep. His blue hair fell across his resting face, the long strands framing his profile. The bunk beds he had slept in since he was an infant creaked and groaned in protest to his teenaged weight. Above him Suzie slept peacefully, unaware that her older brother was having one of the most terrifying nightmares he would ever experience. Henry's breathing quickened as he pulled himself out of the horrifying dream his subconscious was subjecting him to. His attempt to awaken was forced by Tomoki Tran, a businessman who had made the deal of his life earlier that night.

Tomoki and his co-workers went out to the nearest watering hole to celebrate the large amounts of money they were sure to receive. The night went well; all involved could neither see nor walk straight by 11:30P.M. when the businessmen agreed to call it a night. Tomoki, ignoring every driving lesson he had ever received, got into his car and drove home. His usual route abandoned due to an alcohol-induced detour. Caution thrown into the wind as Tomoki reached for his roadmap in an attempt to find out where exactly his drunk driving had led him. In this attempt to gather his sense of direction, Tomoki took his eyes off the road for several seconds. With his attention elsewhere, he did not notice family sedan pull out of a driveway. He continued to be oblivious to the other car's existence right up until the point where the front of his middle-class luxury car collided with the back of the family sedan.

Thirty storeys above the collision, Henry Wong jolted awake. The layer of cold sweat on his forehead shone in the firelight of the car crash below. Above him, Suzie remained dead to the world. Henry threw off his covers before lying back down. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to get back to sleep. The sound of sirens thwarted this attempt. With a quiet groan, Henry rolled out of bed, using a tried and true method of instantaneous coherence. He regretted using this method when his heavy body slammed against the cold, wooden floor.

"Mum told you not to do that anymore," came the half-asleep response to Henry's action.

"Go back to sleep Suzie, there is nothing wrong with the way I wake myself up," he groaned, trying to get to his feet. Sadly for the tired teenager, gravity was still in full affect; even at 12 A.M. on a Saturday morning in West Shinjuku, Japan. Henry toppled over backwards, catching himself on his bedside table before he hit the unforgiving floor. Now fully awake, Henry started to worry about the two causes of his return to consciousness. On one hand, there was his nightmare; on the other hand, there was the bright light from outside that shattered any hope he had held of returning to his troubled state of rest.

Being the young man that he was, Henry decided to see what was going on outside. He threw on a zip-up jacket and hurried out of the Wong apartment. Going to push the button to call the elevator, Henry hesitated. His finger retreated into his clenched hand, the discomfort showing on his face.

The apartment building the Wong's lived in had taken great strides in the fight against Global Warming. All light bulbs in the thirty-four storey tower were required to be of the energy-saving variety; this was strictly policed by the owner's representatives. Several months earlier the entire building had been thoroughly insulated to prevent, or at least reduce, the massive amount of electricity being used every winter. However, the energy-saving idea that was currently annoying Henry was the brilliant theory that shutting down the elevators from 10 P.M. until 4 A.M. every night would significantly reduce the electricity use of the building.

Sighing, Henry began to descend the hundreds of stairs leading to his destination. He grumbled as he passed the door that displayed the number '14' next to the rectangular window in the upper-left of the metal door. Henry stumbled on the last few steps of his journey and vaguely wondered if the light that caused his descent would still be there by the time he finally got out of the stairwell.

Bursting out of the lobby of the high-rise apartment building, Henry watched as the carnage that was Tomoki Tran's car was slowly towed away. The middle-aged man who had been on his way out to buy extra ingredients for his midnight snack sat with his head in his hands, his car still being hoisted onto a tow truck. Henry recoiled as he spotted the large pool of blood that had formed outside the middle-aged man's driveway.

The door the middle-aged man must have walked out of flew open. An equally middle-aged woman came rushing out of the house. Henry shivered in the late night winter air when the woman placed a heavy coat over the man's shoulders. She then embraced him. Henry felt a pang of jealousy. This feeling was amplified when he spotted several blobs of whipped cream stuck in the woman's hair.

_Why does it seem that everyone but me is getting to be physically close to the one they love,_ Henry thought angrily as he made his way back upstairs. _Even the people next door are being intimate. What do I have to do to get some form of anything that isn't kissing?_

Henry continued to rant as he dragged his tired feet up the hundred or so flights of stairs.

By the time he reached to top of the staircase, Henry had resolved that he simply had to force the issue with his boyfriend, Ryo Akiyama. Ryo had decided that they shouldn't be physically close to each other while he could be accused of molesting Henry. The matter was not discussed between the couple, Henry wasn't even aware of it until Ryo started avoiding his attempts to push that side of their relationship further.

Henry growled slightly as he rolled into bed; he knew that his nightmare was going to return the second he drifted off. Sighing, he closed his eyes and surrendered himself to sweet dreams of Ryo and nightmares of forced chastity.


	2. Pride

**Pride.**

**04:00 AM.**

The alarm sounded into the peaceful silence of West Shinjuku before dawn. It was softer than most alarms, its purpose to wake only one occupant of the large bedroom. The hard black lines and white highlights screamed that it wasn't bought to be aesthetically pleasing; it was for function, not beauty.

"Stupid alarm," mumbled the woman on the side of the bed furthest away from the clock. Her bright red hair illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the locked window. She was alone in the bed, her companion had awoken and left when the same alarm went off exactly an hour ago. That person was currently walking hurriedly around the room, trying to decide on which part of her daily routine she was up to.

Rika hated Jeri's early mornings.

"Morning baby," said Jeri from inside the walk-in wardrobe the teenagers shared. Rika mumbled a few four-letter words before tuning both the alarm and her girlfriend out. "Fine, be lazy. I'll just go kiss Ai and Mako goodbye and leave you all alone."

"No!" Rika was out of the bed and across the room before Jeri had time to bask in her own brilliance. The violet eyed young woman engulfed Jeri in a hug before pulling back to place a deep kiss on her live-in girlfriend's lips. Pulling away, Jeri smiled sadly before turning to leave. "Come home safe," Rika called at Jeri's retreating form, the alarm still going off in the background.

Jeri took slow steps as the walked down the hallway. She heard the door to the bedroom she shared with Rika close gently before a hard smack, silencing the alarm clock for another hour. Her amber eyes brightened when the door she was about to open swung inwards, revealing a groggy Ai. The young teen barely noticed Jeri as she pushed past her surrogate mother to get to the apple that was surely waiting in the kitchen.

"Why do the three of you insist on ignoring me every morning?"

"Because, it's four in the morning! No one sane is up at this hour," Ai called over her shoulder. Jeri smiled softly before walking into the room.

"Mako?" she called softly, praying that she didn't get a response. Jeri didn't want to have to deal with a grumpy, teenaged male at four in the morning. Instead of making any more noise, Jeri simply walked over to the single bed positioned on the right side of the room, placed a kiss on the forehead of the male body that had chosen there to pass out from exhaustion and swiftly strode back out of the room.

On her way out of the door, Jeri bumped into Ai. The younger girl was deep in thought before she collided with Jeri. Her musings presented her with a question.

"Are you sure you can handle this?"

"What?" Ai's question had thrown Jeri's mind off balance. There she was trying to get herself into the right frame of mind for work, and then little Ai decided to come along and ask her an open question that required hours, if not days, of pondering.

Seeing Jeri's blank, yet slightly annoyed, face, Ai decided that she had to clarify her very vague question.

"Can you handle getting up at four every other morning? Can you handle looking after Mako and me? How doesn't this get to you?" Jeri stood perfectly still as she thought about Ai's questions. On one hand, she could tell the truth and say that it was slowly killing her; on the other hand, she could lie and continue to make out that she was perfectly happy.

"I'm fine, Ai. Don't you worry your pretty little head about me," said Jeri in her best motherly voice. Ai seemed to take this answer as the truth. She turned away from the redhead and closed the door. "That went well," Jeri said to herself before sighing.

Without so much as a second glance back, Jeri strode down the hallway and left the house, leaving the other five occupants peacefully sleeping.

Her journey to work was as long as it always was. The same old men leered at her from the same old front gardens. The same paperboy greeted her with a tired smile. The same dull building presented itself to her as she arrived at the restaurant and the front door made the same noises of protest when she opened it. Jeri sighed again.

Wedging the door open, Jeri smiled at the first customer of the day. Mr Kha was a retired fisherman who moved to Shinjuku for some peace and quiet. He got very little as his moving coincided with the arrival of the D-Reaper in the Real World. Mr Kha had seen a lot in his many years at sea, but a huge, reddish blob taking over the world? He just couldn't handle it; he had packed up his most precious belongings and started to drive out of town. It was Shinjuku's luck that Mr Kha decided to wait for the threat to be eliminated before leaving. On his way out of town, he was hit with a sudden pang of hunger. His urge to leave the abnormal place silenced by his empty stomach.

Mr Kha stopped his retreat from Shinjuku to have a quick lunch at the Katou restaurant. He took the time to mull over why exactly he was leaving in the first place. He had decided to leave based on two main points: Firstly, the blob seemed to start in Shinjuku and there was no way this place could be all that peaceful and quiet with that happening. Then there were the children; those kids the entire world watched defeat the blob. Mr Kha convinced himself that they had to be part of some paramilitary organisation that was drugging and training kids from a young age. How else could that handful of children have saved the world?

When seated in the near-empty restaurant, his eyes fell on the young waitress that was serving the customers to his right. Mr Kha could have sworn that he had seen that girl somewhere before. He stared at the waitress for several minutes before reaching a stunning conclusion. She was the girl that handful of children pulled out of the blob! Mr Kha waved the young waitress over; curious to know if this graceful redhead really was that poor girl that had been taken by the blob.

"How can I help you, sir," she asked with a friendly smile playing on her lips. The girl's firefly eyes captured Mr Kha.

"I was just wondering if you were one of the children involved with that blob the other month?" he asked, leaning up slightly. The smile on her lips disappeared.

"It's called the D-Reaper," she stated, signalling another waitress over.

"What is?"

"The blob, as you call it. It was a program called the D-Reaper," Her voice held maturity that Mr Kha had never experienced from anyone who looked as young as she did. Why, the girl couldn't even be a teenager yet.

"Oh, so it wasn't a monster?" Mr Kha was interested now.

"No, just a program that wasn't limited enough. Are you going to order or am going to have to have you thrown out?"

"Thrown out?" he asked. Mr Kha was certain that that wasn't what this girl wanted.

"My father, the owner, doesn't appreciate reporters barging in here, asking me all sorts of questions about the D-Reaper and my friends."

"I'm not a reporter. I'm on my way out of town. I came here for peace and quiet, I can't get that with D-Reapers attacking," Mr Kha knew how silly he sounded, there was only one attack, and the general public was assured that the threat was gone for good. "But I would like to know what actually happened, if you have the time," He didn't know why he asked, but, years later, he was happy that he did.

Jeri had convinced Mr Kha that Shinjuku wasn't a dangerous place to live, nor were the outlying suburbs, like the one the Katou's lived in.

"Good morning, Jeri," said Mr Kha as he walked into the un-lit restaurant. Jeri gave him a bright smile in response before walking over to the kitchen to turn on the lights. As the lights flickered on, a woman burst through the open door.

"Jeri!" yelled the woman. Jeri re-appeared from the kitchen. "Am I late?"

"Alissa, don't come in here yelling if it's not important," said Jeri, before her lack of sleep and breakfast caught up with her.

Jeri fell to the ground. Her head had decided that she needed to be lying down.

"You've been running yourself into the ground, Jeri. Take a vacation; we can handle the restaurant while you're gone."

"I'm fine," insisted Jeri. Alissa would have nothing of it.

"Go home and rest for the day."

Jeri opened her mouth to argue but was cut off by a determined Alissa.

"Go home or I'm calling Rika to come and drag you there."

Jeri sighed.

Alissa forgot about her threat as soon as the breakfast rush was over.

Jeri remained at work for the whole day.


	3. Wrath

**Wrath**

**06:00 AM**

The sun broke over the Shinjuku skyline as Takato Matsuki awoke to another day. In his mind, he went through the boredom his average life would throw at him. Life wasn't all fun and games anymore. Takato didn't have the girl of his dreams, nor did he have the quirky girl who caught his attention years ago. No, they were too busy with each other. Takato had the girl who always seemed to be in the peripheral section of the Tamers' vision. She was quiet and loved books, two things neither Rika nor Jeri had ever quite been or done. She was Alice McCoy, granddaughter of one of the men who created Digimon.

Takato wasn't unhappy with his relationship with Alice; in fact he was over the moon that a girl had taken more than a passing interest in him. But she wasn't Jeri.

_Stop it,_ he thought, trying to push all thoughts of Jeri out of his mind. _She's with Rika. This isn't very fair to Alice,_ he added, almost as an afterthought.

The thought of Alice stopped Takato halfway out of bed. He turned to look at his naked girlfriend, a smile forming on his lips. How could he be thinking about Rika and Jeri when this amazing young woman had giving her most prized possession to him just hours before?

Takato rushed around his parents' house/bakery, attempting to tidy-up as he went.

Mr and Mrs Matsuki had left on their annual vacation to Mr Matsuki's brothers house three days previous to Takato's musings about the three main girls in his life. They left the house in their son's control; closing up the bakery to prevent Takato's lack of skill in the kitchen from ruining their reputation. Being the teenaged male that he is, no matter how clueless and hopeless, Takato immediately saw an opportunity to lose the nickname Kazu had branded him with: Jurassic Virgin.

The plan was simple; all he had to do was show Alice a great night out and casually mention that he had an empty house to go back to. But, Takato being who he was, this plan was royally screwed-up. He had taken her out to a restaurant that didn't cater to Alice's vegan needs. Then they went for a stroll in Shinjuku Park where a homeless man had revealed himself and had propositioned Alice far more strongly that Takato had ever dreamed of doing. After these two mishaps, Takato was amazed that his girlfriend was still by his side and willing to lead _him_ up to _his_ bedroom when _he_ froze.

Alice had been understanding and caring when he had messed-up. She had given herself to him, even though Takato knew she had doubts about his former affections for Jeri.

All of this and more was why Takato deeply regretted his thoughts being on Jeri when they should have been on this amazing woman. While he was getting ready to face the day, Takato mulled over his regret, trying to make sense of his suppressed feeling for Jeri and his overwhelming ones for Alice.

Fully dressed and thoroughly confused, Takato spared a glance back at his girlfriend before walking out of the building. A short, essentially heartfelt note was left on the bed in front of Alice's face.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Takato wandered around the streets, trying in vain to sort out his feelings while attempting to find somewhere to buy a nice breakfast for Alice. His wandering took him to a familiar restaurant, one that had housed birthday parties and broken hearts by the truckload since the Tamer's all found each other. The Katou restaurant was the logical place for all Tamer's functions. Except for anything directly celebrating Rika or Jeri, then the party simply _had_ to be held at the Nonaka residence. Neither girl would allow themselves to be celebrated at the restaurant and Takato, Kazu and Kenta couldn't figure out why. Their main theory, Kazu's sole theory, was that Rika's bed was bigger and more comfortable than Jeri's so of course the girls would want to have a wild party there. Apparently, wild parties are the best time and place to catch lesbians in the act of not-mating. Kazu knew this because his favourite magazine, that he had imported from the United States of America, had said so in a recent article next to a picture of two women locked in a faux passionate embrace.

Takato cleared his head of all thought relating to Kazu as he approached the restaurant that was almost certain to have his former crush inside.

Takato had to wade through the bustling people rushing to get to Point B on time to get to Jeri, who was hurriedly pacing the length of the building. When he was seated by some woman whom he vaguely remembered seeing at some of the parties, Takato decided to simply sit and watch Jeri work.

It was nearly an hour before Jeri even noticed him and another half-hour after that before she more than passively aknowlaged his existence with more than a subtle wave.

Half the working population of Shinjuku had passed through the restaurant by the time Jeri sat down, or at least Takato thought they did.

"Are all jobs as hard as your's?" Takato asked when Jeri sat down with a huff. His friend only smiled and blinked a few times. A serious look then crossed Jeri's face.

"What happened, Takato?" she questioned vaguely, deliberately using a tone that left the question open for him to answer however he wanted.

"I did something I'm not sure I regret doing, but I'm fairly certain that I should be," he mumbled, avoiding Jeri's eyes. She immediately knew it wasn't something bad, if the blush lighting up Takato's cheeks was anything to go by. Cocking her head to the side and leaning forward slightly was all it took for Jeri to get Takato to elaborate. This was not what she got.

"How did you know Rika was the right person to, you know," he trailed off, embarrassed. After a few seconds, Jeri's eyes lit up with understanding.

"You and Alice?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, well, isn't that a good thing?" she asked, smiling knowingly. At her smile, Takato felt an odd, new feeling wash over him. This feeling confused him, he hadn,t felt this way since he was recovering from their first encounter with the Digital World. No, since they went _back_ to the Digital World. That was when little Suzie Wong declared war on Rika and Henry. She wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place; both Henry and Mr Wong made that quite clear. But being the adventurer that she was, Suzie broke free from her father's grasp just in time to hurl herself through the portal after the other children. When they landed Henry completely lost all of the Zen his martial arts had drummed into him. The siblings had constantly argued throughout the entire trip.

Suzie didn't just stop there; she insisted on picking fights with Rika over clothing style and the redhead's natural tomboy-ness. The two girls had long and loud arguments discussing the good and bad sides of the colour pink and its merits against the more masculine dark blue. Suzie almost invariable won, against both older children.

While she was at a stand still with her older brother, Suzie turned to Takato for all of her fraternal needs. She had gone to him for the bumps and bruises she managed to acquire along their journey.

Takato was snapped out of him reminiscing by another jolt of what he figured to be fraternal love. Jeri, taking his silence and red face the wrong way, took a stab in the dark and was now suggesting that Takato was reminiscing over the previous night.

"Jeri! I wouldn't think about stuff like that in a public place, let alone talk about it!"

Jeri recoiled in shock, Takato had never yelled at her in a negative way before. She discovered that she preferred him mad at her rather than in love.

"Calm down, I didn't mean to offend. We won't talk about it if you're uncomfortable," soothed Jeri, putting on the same voice she used with both Ai and Mako when they had a violent outbursts. Her hand rose, brushing the stray hairs off his face. Takato offered an almost-not-there smile to the kind young woman, his anger ebbing away from his tensed body.

"Thanks Jeri."

"Now, I know you probably not going to want to hear this but-"

"I should be able to talk about it?"

"No, I was going to say you should be talking to Alice about whatever regret or issue you have about last night," Jeri offered with a knowing smile. Takato was shocked at Jeri's knowledge on the subject. How could sweet little Jeri, the picture of innocence in Takato's life, possible know about the morning after first time sex? The answer he came to made Takato's blood boil once again.

"Is that what you did with Rika?" he accused, standing from the modest table. Jeri, contrary to what Takato expected, did not go any shade of red. Instead, she rose from the table, grabbed his lower arm and calmly walked them both out of the restaurant.

When outside, Jeri released him in favour of a powerful right hook to his jaw. Takato fell to the cold concrete, blood dripping from the empty space one of his teeth had vacated.

"What was that for?" he asked, struggling to get to his feet.

"How dare you condemn my relationship with Rika while you complain when a girl finally gives you the right of way!" yelled Jeri, towering over Takato's fallen form. "Now, I suggest you go back to wherever you came from this morning, get down on your hands and knees and beg for Alice's forgiveness."

"Why?"

"Because this silly little crush has gone far enough! I am sick and tired of you moping around, trying to get me back. I'm glad to say that I'm over you! For good!"

"Glad?"

"If this is how you treat your girlfriend, who sounds like she gave you a woman's most valuable possession last night, then I want absolutely nothing to do with you," she said in a low and dangerous voice before retreating back into the building.

Takato stood there, stunned, Jeri had never spoken like that to anyone but Rika. He had no idea how to react to her lashing out at him. Rika always got really quiet, then wrapped her arms around the angry girl and rubbed up and down the length of Jeri's arms. Takato doubted he'd get the content and slightly frustrated sigh Rika almost always seemed to get; and he most certainly wasn't going to get the light kiss on the cheek they thought no one noticed Jeri slipped Rika every time they pulled away.

Maybe he couldn't have that with Jeri. But Takato was almost certain that Alice was willing to try.


	4. Envy

**Envy.**

**08:00 AM**

"Takato?" Alice called into the empty bedroom, her steely eyes scanning the meagre room with curiosity. Getting no response, she sung her bare legs out of the bed and stood upright. She walked out of the room without so much as a glance back, only stopping to pick up her clothes that were next to the door. If she had looked back, then she would have found the sheet of paper that Takato had written on two hours previous.

Fully dressed and getting increasingly worried and self-conscious, Alice strode out of the front door, looking the street up and down for her absent boyfriend. Not seeing him, she began walking with no particular destination in mind. She walked for several minutes, her brain working in overdrive, trying to figure out where Takato would deem more important than in bed with her. Her walking landed her right in the middle of Shinjuku Park, right outside where the Tamer's hide out was. Thinking that a trip up the stairs wouldn't kill her, Alice ascended the aged stone pathway.

"Takato?" she called into the empty building. Not getting a response, Alice strode back out of the stone structure. She looked back, praying to see an over-sized dog sitting there, prouder than any lion. A tear threatened to fall when it failed to materialize.

Alice harshly wiped the offending liquid from her eyes, angrily walking out of the park. Her mind was now set on finding her boyfriend, and strangling him for leaving her in bed alone.

She walked while thinking tiredly, her mind lazily sifting through important and not-so important locations in Takato's life. She found herself surrounded by night-clubs, their neon lights switched off for the day. Why did her feet take her here? She knew _exactly_ why she was here, but refused to admit Takato would do that to her. He didn't have a cruel bone in his body. No, Takato Matsuki was simply not capable of doing something like that to the woman he loves.

Alice turned the corner, entering a familiar street, one that she prayed Takato wouldn't be on. Her prayers were _not_ answered by anyone but the Devil himself. There he was, her Takato, standing outside the restaurant owned and run by Jeri-fucking-Katou.

Fury clouded Alice's vision as she ran down a street in Shinjuku. She didn't know where she was running to, but she was well aware of what and who she was running _from_. That was enough reason to run to the end of the Earth. Her rational brain kicked in, telling her that the Earth was spherical, and that it was physically impossible to run until you got to the end of it.

_How about I just keep going until I hit water,_ she stated inside her head, snapping at her own mind.

This plan was agreed upon by the back of her head and the part she felt that she was actively controlling. It, however, was a flawed plan, with several obstacles standing in the way of success. One of the major ones was somehow managing to run until Alice could not go another step, only to find she'd stopped right where she started.

_How the-_

Alice's thought was cut off by a thousand demons screaming their victory on the battlefield, or Jeri F. Katou trying to get her attention. It all depends on your perspective. Alice preferred her view of the situation over what was _actually happening_.

_Maybe I'm losing my mind,_ she hypothesized, completely ignoring the approaching redhead. _Perhaps that's why Takato would prefer to spend his morning with _her_ rather than wake up to the girl he lost it to. Or maybe-_

Alice was again pulled out of her self-depreciating thoughts by a soft, strong hand gently shaking her shoulder. "Alice, are you mad that I'm secretly sleeping with Takato?" asked the demons.

Jeri, on the other hand asked:

"Alice, are you mad that Takato freaked-out this morning?"

Alice was too consumed with plans to slaughter each and every demon to notice the cautious and understanding signs Jeri's body was giving off. She was too busy plotting Takato's assassination to care that she was being slowly led across a street and into a building. However, she quite consumed or busy enough to miss the story Jeri had begun to tell. Something about Rika's 'morning-after' reaction.

"It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. She was so nervous! It was almost as if I had had no say at all in what we did. You'd think she knocked me over the head and raped me, the way she apologised."

Jeri continued on and on about Rika, the way most teenaged girls in love do, but Alice took no notice of her dreamy voice or far-off expression. She instead continued to focus on her horde of demons, even though her imagination was slowly dwindling their numbers and giving them another set of eyes above their already existing pair.

"Stop it!" Alice screamed while trying to force Jeri back into her demonic state. The last of Jeri's breakfast customers looked up at the apartment, wondering what the young owner was doing with the blonde girl she'd led upstairs.

"Stop what?"

"Being so nice, and friendly. It makes you a very hard person to hate," Alice said, tears spilling down her face. Jeri moved to embrace her friend but she was roughly pushed back. "Just stop it!"

"Hate? Why would you want to hate me? What have I done?"

"You're taking Takato away from me, and you're probably more experienced in bed than me," said Alice before collapsing on Jeri's bed.

"Why would I want Takato? I've got Rika," said Jeri, confusion filling her voice. Alice's eyes narrowed, her mouth opening to rant about how Takato was more desirable than Kazu and Kenta gave him credit for. Jeri cut her off. "Not that there's anything wrong with him. I just..."

Alice watched as brown eyes glazed over, lost in memory.

"I love her, with everything that I am and all that I can ever hope to be. I'm never going to give that up."

"I still say you're _too_ perfect," said Alice, trying to cling to the remaining slivers of her anger.

"If it helps, I yelled at Ai last night and slapped Rika the night before."

"It doesn't."


End file.
